As we near the Thanksgiving break next week, I want to bring you up to date on a few issues—starting with an opportunity to learn more from each other.

FIRST ALL-CAMPUS FORUM IS MONDAY

All faculty, staff and students are invited to an All-campus Forum from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday, November 22, in the Wisconsin Room of the UWM Union. I will be hosting the forum and will introduce campus senior leadership and will outline their specific roles in achieving UWM's mission. They will join me on stage and together we will do our best to answer your questions about any campus topic.

There will be a few short presentations as part of the forum:

Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administrative Affairs Christy Brown will describe and provide an update on the $240 million UW-Milwaukee Initiative.

Center for 21st Century Studies Director Richard Grusin will give us details about the RFP process for a new research initiative that invites innovative, cross-campus approaches to “Transdisciplinary Challenges for 21st Century Studies.”

The November 22 forum will be followed in coming weeks by a Brown Bag Series of similar campus conversations. I intend to schedule at least two of these discussions each month. Some will be open to all campus and others will be co-hosted by academic schools and colleges or divisions. Watch for more information about them.

UPDATE ABOUT KENWOOD COMPLEX

At the State Building Commission on Wednesday, UWM reached another project milestone for the Kenwood Integrated Research Complex. We received unanimous, bipartisan support to hire a Construction Manager at Risk.

This firm will oversee Kenwood Integrated Research Complex Phase I, a $75 million project near the northwest corner of Kenwood Boulevard and Maryland Avenue. The complex will eventually be a multi-building development. The first phase will address the campus’s urgent academic and core research needs in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields. The Department of Physics will be a key tenant of this first phase.

As part of the UWM team that participated in the Building Commission meeting, I was very pleased to see that state elected officials continue to be extremely supportive of this key part of the UW-Milwaukee Initiative.

BEST WISHES FOR A SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAY

Thanksgiving is traditionally a time that we consider everything for which we are thankful.

From the perspective of the university, I believe it is significant to be very grateful for the extensive support we continue to receive for the UW-Milwaukee Initiative and how it will allow us to grow significantly in the coming years.

I know we are thankful for our colleagues. Every day through their hard work, they make contributions toward UWM becoming a great university.

As a faculty member, I know I am grateful for our students. They offer me an opportunity to support their education and make the future brighter, and they bring vitality to the classroom and help me grow.